These three pages are selections from a larger comic magazine called: Dark Kastle. Dark Kastle is a visual encyclopedia of an ever-changing, surreal castle setting. Through this project, I use the Kastle as an allegory for the hybridized digital-physical humanist systems that distort reality. The term hyperreality, coined by theorist Jean Baudrillard, defines the idea that the lines between reality and simulations have blurred. Using the medium of comics, I reflect on my own experiences and thoughts existing in the hyperreal, employing narrative illustration to reflect. My creative process begins with writing short journal entries throughout my day, which are expanded upon through sketching, inking, and digital processing. Traditional illustration rather than digital is key to my practice as it helps me disengage from digital simulations and focus on the physicality of life. Dark Kastle is meant to show viewers, through form, process, and content, that truth and meaning are found in connection with others and engagement with the self without the influence of digital signifiers.
